Page 56 of The Lucky Winners

I retreat to a table in the far corner, away from the friendly chatter and clinking cups.

The door opens a few minutes later, and Paige arrives. My heart sinks at the sight of her. She looks … diminished. Her vibrant energy has been replaced by a subdued emptiness. Her clothes hang loose on her frame and dark shadows are etched beneath her eyes.

I stand to hug her, but the gesture feels awkward. She barely meets my gaze as I go to the counter to get us a couple of lattes. ‘You look worn out,’ I say carefully, sitting down. ‘Have you been ill?’

Her eyes fill with tears almost instantly, and she shakes her head. Her hands tremble as she reaches for the latte I’ve placed in front of her, her movements jerky and uncertain.

‘Paige, what’s going on?’ I ask, keeping my voice calm and level. ‘I know something’s wrong, so just start at the beginning.’

She looks down at her hands, twisting her fingers together until her knuckles go white. Then she looks up quickly and her whole body tenses. For a moment, I think she might bolt.

‘Paige.’ I lean forward, softening my tone. ‘You’re scaring me. Whatever it is, you can tell me. We’ll figure it out together. You know … like we used to do.’

‘It’s not safe at the house,’ she whispers, looking around the café furtively.

‘Why not?’ I prompt gently, though my pulse has already begun to race.

She pushes her hair back from her face. ‘I did something really stupid.’

I open my mouth to say something, but she puts up a hand to silence me.

‘Please, Merri, just let me say this because … I’ve been too scared to talk to you, and now you’re here, I need to tell you what I did.’

I swallow. She’s really scaring me now. With what’s happening back at Lakeview, I’m not sure how many more nasty surprises I can handle.

‘I thought I could make it go away,’ Paige says, her voice breaking. ‘But I couldn’t, see? It all ran away with me and now I can’t sleep at the house any more. I’ve gone back to my parents’.’

I stare at her, my mind racing to catch up. ‘What are you talking about? What do you mean about making it go away?’

She leans in, her voice barely audible. ‘Can you remember the new friend I told you about? The one I met at Pilates?’

I frown, thinking back. She’d mentioned getting friendly with a woman.

‘It turns out she wasn’t a real friend. She was only really interested in finding out about you and Dev.’

‘What?’ I whisper. ‘Was she a reporter? What did she want to know?’

‘She wasn’t a reporter,’ Paige says, her eyes wide and glassy. ‘I’m still not sure who she was, but … we got really friendly. Started going out to bars after the class … you know, like we used to do sometimes?’

I nod, forcing myself to stay quiet and let her speak.

‘One night I had far too much to drink. It had been a bad week at work and I’d failed an assignment at college and, anyway, it was just after those photos were posted online and I felt annoyed at what I thought was you bragging.

My friend got me talking about you, and I told her about …

I told her about Beth dying and how you won’t talk to anyone about it.

Sorry.’ She bites her lip and looks at the wall.

‘I told her you had a secret even I didn’t know and you hadn’t told Dev about it. ’

‘Oh, no.’ I cover my eyes with a hand.

‘I’m sorry, Merri. I was an idiot, I know that now. Thing is … I was pretty wasted. I can’t even remember some of what I told her about you and Dev.’

I look at her, fury burning in my eyes but when I see how wretched she looks, I bite back my response. ‘What was her name?’ I say, instead.

‘Pamela. Pamela Boreham.’

Pamela Boreham … It doesn’t ring a bell. What about Pam ? But no. Definitely nobody I can recall with that name. Maybe there’s nothing to it, just another nosy person out for info.

I shrug. ‘I don’t know anyone who goes by that name. You should’ve told me sooner! Is this what you tried to call me about? I wish you’d left a voicemail or sent a message, so I knew what you were dealing with.’ I reach out and place a hand over hers.

‘How could I? I know how private you are and … I trusted her. I admit I felt sort of dumped when you left so suddenly.’ She looks down at her hands. ‘I can see how petty I was now. I mean, of course you left to live in your beautiful new house. Who wouldn’t?’

‘But surely that’s not the reason you’ve moved out of the house?’ I frown. ‘It looked trashed when I walked in earlier.’

‘That’s just it. I didn’t do that. I came back from work one day and someone had been inside. Broken the glass in the kitchen door and turned the key to get in.’ She grimaces. ‘The key you told me not to leave in the door for security reasons.’

‘My God! Did they take anything? Did you report it to the police?’

She shakes her head. ‘I got a text message saying, “Tell the police and you’re dead.”’

‘What?’ My hands fly up to my face. ‘But this is terrible, Paige! Who on earth would send something like that? It must be connected to that Pamela woman. I can’t believe you didn’t come to us for help!’

‘I didn’t want to seem ungrateful. You and Dev had been so kind, letting me stay there. I got the glass replaced and decided I’d move out and hope things would just blow over. I knew I only had until the end of your tenancy anyway, so Mum said I could move back home until then.’

I touch her hand, my anger replaced with concern. ‘I can see the toll this has taken on your health, Paige.’

‘I’ve been off sick since it happened, but I blame myself.

After she got all the gory details off me, Pamela disappeared off the face of the earth.

She stopped going to Pilates, her phone number became discontinued …

That was when it occurred to me. What happened at the house could have been something to do with her. ’

‘Just going back to the break-in, what did they take?’

‘Nothing. They were obviously looking for something, but I don’t know what.’ She sighs, hangs her head. ‘Pamela seemed so genuine. I still can’t believe she played me like that. If I ever see her again, I’ll –’

‘Paige!’ She looks alarmed at my interruption, but I just had a light-bulb moment that can’t wait. ‘Have you got a photograph of her? Of Pamela?’

Her face brightens slightly. ‘Yes, I have. I always thought it weird she never wanted me to post anything on Facebook, and claimed she didn’t do social media. I wonder now whether “Pamela” was even her real name.’

She takes her phone out of her handbag and swipes through the numerous thumbnails of photographs, her hands trembling slightly. ‘I managed to snap a selfie of us the night she got the information out of me. She told me to delete it as we left, but I didn’t. Here we go.’

She holds up the phone, and I feel a prickle of anticipation skitter down my spine. My gaze locks on to the screen, and for a moment I can’t do anything but stare, not understanding.

The image in front of me shows Paige, glassy-eyed and grinning at the camera, clearly the worse for wear. But that’s not what sends ice flooding through my veins. It’s the figure standing just behind her – Pamela .

She’d half turned, been caught mid-movement as if she’d just looked up sharply. The camera has caught her expression as a jagged mess of annoyance and surprise, mouth slightly open, eyes wide and flashing. My mind struggles to catch up, the shock ricocheting through me like a bullet.

That face – so stark and unguarded – looks nothing like the careful, composed woman I’ve known. It’s raw and angry in a way that makes my chest tighten, and I realize I’m holding my breath.

‘Oh, my God,’ I whisper. A horrible realization unravels in my gut, spreading through me like poison. I can’t tear my eyes away from that look – a snapshot caught just as the mask is slipping. A snapshot that’s just enough to reveal the truth beneath it.

Paige looks at me, confusion crossing her face. ‘What is it? What’s wrong?’

I tear my gaze from the screen, my pulse banging in my ears, the shock sinking its claws deeper into my mind with every second that passes. This doesn’t make sense.

‘Send me that picture,’ I manage to say, trying to keep the wobble from my voice.

She frowns, but thumbs through her phone. I grip the edge of the table to ground myself, my thoughts spinning wildly.

Because it’s not just the look on her face that’s throwing me – it’s the face itself. I know that face. I’ve seen it before – smiling at me across the table, offering me a cup of coffee on a drizzly morning, leaning in close to confide secrets about her marriage.

This woman’s name is not Pamela.

It’s Tilda .

My knees feel weak, and I lower myself into a chair, my hands gripping the table as if it’s the only solid thing left. My brain fumbles to make sense of it but, no matter how I twist it around, the truth of some kind of betrayal is right there on Paige’s phone, staring me in the face.

‘Merri?’ Paige’s voice is sharp with concern. ‘What’s going on? You’re freaking me out.’

I turn to her, feeling as if the ground has just been ripped out from under me. ‘The woman in the photo, she’s my new neighbour in Windermere. Her name is Tilda.’

Paige’s eyes widen, confusion giving way to shock. ‘What? No … She’s definitely called Pamela. I’ve met her loads of times. She introduced herself as Pamela and she lives in Mansfield.’

My throat feels tight, and I struggle to draw a breath. ‘She lied, Paige. She’s been lying this whole time. She’s not who she says she is.’

So many questions claw at my mind, each more terrifying than the last. Why would Tilda use a fake name? Why would she pretend to be someone else entirely? And what reason would she have for befriending my best friend?

I feel a cold dread seep into my bones. If Tilda’s been lying about this, then nothing else about her can be trusted.

I reach for my phone. I need to warn Dev.